ISO 3166-1 alpha-3

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ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. They allow a better visual association between the codes and the country names than the two-letter alpha-2 codes (the third set of codes is numeric and hence offers no visual association).[1] They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.

Uses and applications[]

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are used most prominently in ISO/IEC 7501-1 for machine-readable passports, as standardized by the International Civil Aviation Organization, with a number of additional codes for special passports; some of these codes are currently reserved and not used at the present stage in ISO 3166-1.[2]

The United Nations uses a combination of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and alpha-3 codes, along with codes that pre-date the creation of ISO 3166, for international vehicle registration codes, which are codes used to identify the issuing country of a vehicle registration plate; some of these codes are currently indeterminately reserved in ISO 3166-1.[3]

Current codes[]

Officially assigned code elements[]

The following is a complete list of the current officially assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes,[4] using a title case version of the English short names officially defined by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA):

  • ABW  Aruba
  • AFG  Afghanistan
  • AGO  Angola
  • AIA  Anguilla
  • ALA  Åland Islands
  • ALB  Albania
  • AND  Andorra
  • ARE  United Arab Emirates
  • ARG  Argentina
  • ARM  Armenia
  • ASM  American Samoa
  • ATA  Antarctica
  • ATF  French Southern Territories
  • ATG  Antigua and Barbuda
  • AUS  Australia
  • AUT  Austria
  • AZE  Azerbaijan
  • BDI  Burundi
  • BEL  Belgium
  • BEN  Benin
  • BES  Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
  • BFA  Burkina Faso
  • BGD  Bangladesh
  • BGR  Bulgaria
  • BHR  Bahrain
  • BHS  Bahamas
  • BIH  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • BLM  Saint Barthélemy
  • BLR  Belarus
  • BLZ  Belize
  • BMU  Bermuda
  • BOL  Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
  • BRA  Brazil
  • BRB  Barbados
  • BRN  Brunei Darussalam
  • BTN  Bhutan
  • BVT  Bouvet Island
  • BWA  Botswana
  • CAF  Central African Republic
  • CAN  Canada
  • CCK  Cocos (Keeling) Islands
  • CHE  Switzerland
  • CHL  Chile
  • CHN  China
  • CIV  Côte d'Ivoire
  • CMR  Cameroon
  • COD  Congo, Democratic Republic of the
  • COG  Congo
  • COK  Cook Islands
  • COL  Colombia
  • COM  Comoros
  • CPV  Cabo Verde
  • CRI  Costa Rica
  • CUB  Cuba
  • CUW  Curaçao
  • CXR  Christmas Island
  • CYM  Cayman Islands
  • CYP  Cyprus
  • CZE  Czechia
  • DEU  Germany
  • DJI  Djibouti
  • DMA  Dominica
  • DNK  Denmark
  • DOM  Dominican Republic
  • DZA  Algeria
  • ECU  Ecuador
  • EGY  Egypt
  • ERI  Eritrea
  • ESH  Western Sahara
  • ESP  Spain
  • EST  Estonia
  • ETH  Ethiopia
  • FIN  Finland
  • FJI  Fiji
  • FLK  Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
  • FRA  France
  • FRO  Faroe Islands
  • FSM  Micronesia (Federated States of)
  • GAB  Gabon
  • GBR  United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • GEO  Georgia
  • GGY  Guernsey
  • GHA  Ghana
  • GIB  Gibraltar
  • GIN  Guinea
  • GLP  Guadeloupe
  • GMB  Gambia
  • GNB  Guinea-Bissau
  • GNQ  Equatorial Guinea
  • GRC  Greece
  • GRD  Grenada
  • GRL  Greenland
  • GTM  Guatemala
  • GUF  French Guiana
  • GUM  Guam
  • GUY  Guyana
  • HKG  Hong Kong
  • HMD  Heard Island and McDonald Islands
  • HND  Honduras
  • HRV  Croatia
  • HTI  Haiti
  • HUN  Hungary
  • IDN  Indonesia
  • IMN  Isle of Man
  • IND  India
  • IOT  British Indian Ocean Territory
  • IRL  Ireland
  • IRN  Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  • IRQ  Iraq
  • ISL  Iceland
  • ISR  Israel
  • ITA  Italy
  • JAM  Jamaica
  • JEY  Jersey
  • JOR  Jordan
  • JPN  Japan
  • KAZ  Kazakhstan
  • KEN  Kenya
  • KGZ  Kyrgyzstan
  • KHM  Cambodia
  • KIR  Kiribati
  • KNA  Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • KOR  Korea, Republic of
  • KWT  Kuwait
  • LAO  Lao People's Democratic Republic
  • LBN  Lebanon
  • LBR  Liberia
  • LBY  Libya
  • LCA  Saint Lucia
  • LIE  Liechtenstein
  • LKA  Sri Lanka
  • LSO  Lesotho
  • LTU  Lithuania
  • LUX  Luxembourg
  • LVA  Latvia
  • MAC  Macao
  • MAF  Saint Martin (French part)
  • MAR  Morocco
  • MCO  Monaco
  • MDA  Moldova, Republic of
  • MDG  Madagascar
  • MDV  Maldives
  • MEX  Mexico
  • MHL  Marshall Islands
  • MKD  North Macedonia
  • MLI  Mali
  • MLT  Malta
  • MMR  Myanmar
  • MNE  Montenegro
  • MNG  Mongolia
  • MNP  Northern Mariana Islands
  • MOZ  Mozambique
  • MRT  Mauritania
  • MSR  Montserrat
  • MTQ  Martinique
  • MUS  Mauritius
  • MWI  Malawi
  • MYS  Malaysia
  • MYT  Mayotte
  • NAM  Namibia
  • NCL  New Caledonia
  • NER  Niger
  • NFK  Norfolk Island
  • NGA  Nigeria
  • NIC  Nicaragua
  • NIU  Niue
  • NLD  Netherlands
  • NOR  Norway
  • NPL  Nepal
  • NRU  Nauru
  • NZL  New Zealand
  • OMN  Oman
  • PAK  Pakistan
  • PAN  Panama
  • PCN  Pitcairn
  • PER  Peru
  • PHL  Philippines
  • PLW  Palau
  • PNG  Papua New Guinea
  • POL  Poland
  • PRI  Puerto Rico
  • PRK  Korea (Democratic People's Republic of)
  • PRT  Portugal
  • PRY  Paraguay
  • PSE  Palestine, State of
  • PYF  French Polynesia
  • QAT  Qatar
  • REU  Réunion
  • ROU  Romania
  • RUS  Russian Federation
  • RWA  Rwanda
  • SAU  Saudi Arabia
  • SDN  Sudan
  • SEN  Senegal
  • SGP  Singapore
  • SGS  South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
  • SHN  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
  • SJM  Svalbard and Jan Mayen
  • SLB  Solomon Islands
  • SLE  Sierra Leone
  • SLV  El Salvador
  • SMR  San Marino
  • SOM  Somalia
  • SPM  Saint Pierre and Miquelon
  • SRB  Serbia
  • SSD  South Sudan
  • STP  Sao Tome and Principe
  • SUR  Suriname
  • SVK  Slovakia
  • SVN  Slovenia
  • SWE  Sweden
  • SWZ  Eswatini
  • SXM  Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
  • SYC  Seychelles
  • SYR  Syrian Arab Republic
  • TCA  Turks and Caicos Islands
  • TCD  Chad
  • TGO  Togo
  • THA  Thailand
  • TJK  Tajikistan
  • TKL  Tokelau
  • TKM  Turkmenistan
  • TLS  Timor-Leste
  • TON  Tonga
  • TTO  Trinidad and Tobago
  • TUN  Tunisia
  • TUR  Turkey
  • TUV  Tuvalu
  • TWN  Taiwan, Province of China
  • TZA  Tanzania, United Republic of
  • UGA  Uganda
  • UKR  Ukraine
  • UMI  United States Minor Outlying Islands
  • URY  Uruguay
  • USA  United States of America
  • UZB  Uzbekistan
  • VAT  Holy See
  • VCT  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • VEN  Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
  • VGB  Virgin Islands (British)
  • VIR  Virgin Islands (U.S.)
  • VNM  Viet Nam
  • VUT  Vanuatu
  • WLF  Wallis and Futuna
  • WSM  Samoa
  • YEM  Yemen
  • ZAF  South Africa
  • ZMB  Zambia
  • ZWE  Zimbabwe

User-assigned code elements[]

User-assigned code elements are codes at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries, territories, or other geographical entities to their in-house application of ISO 3166-1, and the ISO 3166/MA will never use these codes in the updating process of the standard. The following alpha-3 codes can be user-assigned: AAA to AAZ, QMA to QZZ, XAA to XZZ, and ZZA to ZZZ.[5]

Examples[]

The following codes are used in ISO/IEC 7501-1 for special machine-readable passports:[2]

  • EUE is used for the European Union laissez-passer[6]
  • XOM is used to represent the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
  • XPO is used for Interpol travel documents
  • XXA is used to represent a stateless person, as defined in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
  • XXB is used to represent a refugee, as defined in Article 1 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as amended by the 1967 Protocol
  • XXC is used to represent a refugee, other than as defined above
  • XXX is used to represent a person of unspecified nationality
  • WSA is used for the World Service Authority World Passport (The World Service Authority World Passport contains "WSA" as the authority code. It has been filed with the International Civil Aviation Organization, but does not appear in official ICAO documents as valid.[7])

NATO STANAG 1059 INT is built upon ISO alpha-3 codes, but also defines alpha-2 codes incompatible with ISO 3166-1. It introduces several private use codes for fictional countries and organizational entities:

  • XXB "Brownland"
  • XXG "Greyland"
  • XXI "Indigoland"
  • XXL "Limeland"
  • XXP "Purpleland"
  • XXR "Redland"
  • XXW "Whiteland"
  • XXY "Yellowland"
  • XXE SHAPE
  • XXM NATO
  • XXN NATO "Blue" Command
  • XXS SACLANT

NATO also continues to use reserved codes for continents:

  • ABB Asia
  • EEE Europe
  • FFF Africa
  • NNN North America
  • SRR South America
  • UUU Oceania
  • NTT NATO countries

Reserved code elements[]

Reserved code elements are codes which have become obsolete, or are required in order to enable a particular user application of the standard but do not qualify for inclusion in ISO 3166-1. To avoid transitional application problems and to aid users who require specific additional code elements for the functioning of their coding systems, the ISO 3166/MA, when justified, reserves these codes which it undertakes not to use for other than specified purposes during a limited or indeterminate period of time. The reserved alpha-3 codes can be divided into the following four categories: exceptional reservations, transitional reservations, indeterminate reservations, and codes currently agreed not to use.

Exceptional reservations[]

Exceptionally reserved code elements are codes reserved at the request of national ISO member bodies, governments and international organizations, which are required in order to support a particular application, as specified by the requesting body and limited to such use; any further use of such code elements is subject to approval by the ISO 3166/MA. The following alpha-3 codes are currently exceptionally reserved:

  • ASC Ascension Island – Reserved on request of Universal Postal Union (UPU), also used by International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
  • CPT Clipperton Island – Reserved on request of ITU
  • DGA Diego Garcia – Reserved on request of ITU
  • FXX France, Metropolitan – Reserved on request of France; Officially assigned before being deleted from ISO 3166-1
  • SUN USSR – From June 2008; Transitionally reserved from September 1992; Officially assigned before being deleted from ISO 3166-1
  • TAA Tristan da Cunha – Reserved on request of UPU

The following alpha-3 codes were previously exceptionally reserved, but are now officially assigned:

  • GGY Guernsey – Reserved on request of UPU
  • IMN Isle of Man – Reserved on request of UPU
  • JEY Jersey – Reserved on request of UPU

Transitional reservations[]

Transitional reserved code elements are codes reserved after their deletion from ISO 3166-1. These codes may be used only during a transitional period of at least five years while new code elements that may have replaced them are taken into use. These codes may be reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA after the expiration of the transitional period. The following alpha-3 codes are currently transitionally reserved:

  • ANT Netherlands Antilles – From December 2010
  • BUR Burma – From December 1989
  • BYS Byelorussian SSR – From June 1992
  • CSK Czechoslovakia – From June 1993
  • NTZ Neutral Zone – From July 1993
  • ROM Romania – From February 2002; Code changed to ROU[8]
  • SCG Serbia and Montenegro – From September 2006
  • TMP East Timor – From May 2002
  • YUG Yugoslavia – From July 2003
  • ZAR Zaire – From July 1997

Indeterminate reservations[]

Indeterminately reserved code elements are codes used to designate road vehicles under the 1949 and 1968 United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic but differing from those contained in ISO 3166-1. These code elements are expected eventually to be either eliminated or replaced by code elements within ISO 3166-1. In the meantime, the ISO 3166/MA has reserved such code elements for an indeterminate period. Any use beyond the application of the two Conventions is discouraged and will not be approved by the ISO 3166/MA. Moreover, these codes may be reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA at any time. The following alpha-3 codes are currently indeterminately reserved:

  • ADN Aden
  • BDS Barbados
  • BRU Brunei
  • CDN Canada
  • EAK Kenya
  • EAT Tanganyika [Part of Tanzania, United Republic of]
  • EAU Uganda
  • EAZ Zanzibar [Part of Tanzania, United Republic of]
  • GBA Alderney
  • GBG Guernsey
  • GBJ Jersey
  • GBM Isle of Man
  • GBZ Gibraltar
  • GCA Guatemala
  • HKJ Jordan
  • MAL Malaysia
  • RCA Central African Republic
  • RCB Congo, People's Republic of
  • RCH Chile
  • RMM Mali
  • RNR Zambia
  • ROK Korea, Republic of
  • RSM San Marino
  • RSR Southern Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe]
  • SLO Slovenia
  • SME Suriname
  • TMN Turkmenistan
  • WAG Gambia
  • WAL Sierra Leone
  • WAN Nigeria
  • ZRE Zaire, People's Republic of

The following alpha-3 code was previously indeterminately reserved, but has been reassigned to another country as its official code:

  • ROU Uruguay – Code reassigned to Romania

Codes currently agreed not to use[]

In addition, the ISO 3166/MA will not use the following alpha-3 codes at the present stage, as they are used in ISO/IEC 7501-1 for special machine-readable passports:

  • GBD identifies a British Passport holder who is a British Overseas Territories citizen
  • GBN identifies a British Passport holder who is a British National (Overseas)
  • GBO identifies a British Passport holder who is a British Overseas citizen
  • GBP identifies a British Passport holder who is a British protected person
  • GBS identifies a British Passport holder who is a British subject
  • UNA is used as a substitute for nationality where the holder is an Official of a Specialized Agency of the UN Organization
  • UNK identifies Kosovo residents to whom travel documents were issued by the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK)
  • UNO is used to designate the UN Organization as the issuer and used as a substitute for nationality where the holder is an Official of the UN Organization

Deleted codes[]

Besides the codes currently transitionally reserved and two other codes currently exceptionally reserved (FXX for France, Metropolitan and SUN for USSR), the following alpha-3 codes have also been deleted from ISO 3166-1:[9]

  • AFI French Afars and Issas
  • ATB British Antarctic Territory
  • ATN Dronning Maud Land
  • CTE Canton and Enderbury Islands
  • DDR German Democratic Republic
  • DHY Dahomey
  • GEL Gilbert and Ellice Islands
  • HVO Upper Volta
  • JTN Johnston Island
  • MID Midway Islands
  • NHB New Hebrides
  • PCI Pacific Islands (Trust Territory)
  • PCZ Panama Canal Zone
  • PHI Philippines – Code changed to PHL in 1976[10]
  • PUS United States Miscellaneous Pacific Islands
  • RHO Southern Rhodesia
  • SKM Sikkim
  • VDR Viet-Nam, Democratic Republic of
  • WAK Wake Island
  • YMD Yemen, Democratic

See also[]

  • List of IOC country codes, used by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
  • List of FIFA country codes, used by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
  • Comparison of alphabetic country codes

References[]

  1. ^ "ISO 3166 – FAQs – General questions". International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
  2. ^ a b "Appendix 7 to Section IV – Three-letter codes" (PDF). Doc 9303, Machine Readable Travel Documents, Part I – Machine Readable Passports, Volume I – Passports with Machine Readable Data Stored in Optical Character Recognition Format. International Civil Aviation Organization. pp. IV-43–IV-46.
  3. ^ "Distinguishing signs used on vehicles in international traffic" (PDF). United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
  4. ^ "Country names and code elements". ISO.
  5. ^ "Glossary for ISO 3166 - Codes for countries and their subdivisions". ISO.
  6. ^ "European Union laissez-passer (video at 0:47)". Laissez-passer.eu. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Doc 9303 : Machine Readable Travel Documents" (PDF). Icao.int. p. III-1-4. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  8. ^ ISO International Organization for Standardization, ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (1 February 2002). "RE: Change of alpha-3 Code Element" (PDF). ISO 3166-1 NEWSLETTER No. V-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 26 June 2017. Description of change: Change of the alpha-3 Code element for Romania from ROM to ROU following a request of the Government of Romania.
  9. ^ Clive Feather (2003-07-25). "Country codes in ISO 3166 (Table 2: codes withdrawn from use)". Davros.org.
  10. ^ Gwillim Law (2014-07-17). "Changes in ISO 3166-1". Statoids.com.

Sources and external links[]

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